This Festival is over three days and it took place in the heart of Bingley West Yorkshire in Myrtle Park on the 4th - 6th September a week later than last year’s event! With record ticket sales and the nice weather it was a recipe for a great successful event. It’s been running now since 2009 and has grown into one of the best festivals in the country, featuring a wide range of different music genres to meet everyone’s taste. There has been some top artists enjoyed playing this festival such as Chic, Maximo Park, Razor Light, and The Charlatans. It also gives a very good platform for new artists/bands to ply their talents and to show them off. I was very impressed with the standard of the up and coming artists on The Discovery Stage who are the future of live music so we all need to support these guys or live music will slowly die out!

The festival is very family friendly and the organisers take a lot of pride on creating that kind of atmosphere and put a lot of hard work and effort to make this happen which is quite apparent. There are plenty of activities for all the children to join in with and all I saw all weekend was happy smiling faces so I think it was a job well done!

On Friday the weather was nice and the gates opened at 3 PM and the crowds started flowing in to enjoy the day’s music and activities which kicked off with Apollo Junction on the main stage and opening proceedings on The Discovery Stage was The Turning. As the music played and the day went on the crowd grew and the grass disappeared! The line up For The Discovery Stage is as follows Model Aeroplanes, Weirds, Fickle Friends and head lining was Rae Morris who is a singer songwriter based in Blackpool and if you want to catch her she is playing Bestival on 11th September and a host of other dates to follow around the country! I do recommend her she was fantastic!

On The Main Stage after Apollo Junction were Holy Esque, Gallery Circus, The Beat, Cast and James Headlined! Apollo Junction are from Leeds/London and formed in 2012. They are an Indie pop band that has a melodic sound! Gallery Circus consists of two Identical twin brothers From Newcastle in the U.K. but were based in the States. They had a feel of Royal Blood about them but with a much better vocal range! Next to hit the stage was The Beat from Birmingham who had numerous hits in the charts in the early 80’s with the likes of “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Too Nice to Talk To” and “Hands Off... She’s Mine” They got the crowd dancing, Jumping and swaying their arms in unison and even though in a cover of Rock the Casbah by The Clash, they when down very well with the audience. Now for the Liverpudlian’s Cast, they hammered out some of their back catalogue of hits to a wanting crowd who by now were on each other’s shoulders, this band has 3 top ten albums and 10 top twenty singles... Good pedigree if you ask me great choice, to set up the finale which would be in the shape of James. James does not need much introducing, a lot of people who I spoke to over the course of the day were here to see James and they did not disappoint as they were on top form. James had the crowd totally gripped from the start as they joined in with the singing, dancing and clapped all of the way through the entire set. Mr. James (Tim Booth) claimed he is the only person insured for stage diving as the crowd always handle him gently but after they see this audience he might not be able to be get insured anymore, I love his humour. He them proceeded to do some crowd surfing, he loves connecting with his audience! His last song “Sometimes” was about a boy who wanted to be struck by lightning, Just a couple of weeks ago he done this song in one of the worst thunder and lightning storms I have ever witnessed and the setting could not of been more perfect. A great ending to the day how on earth are they going to follow that, can’t wait to find out!​

Day 2 at Myrtle Park and the sun is shining once again it’s an earlier start to proceedings today as the first bands hit the stage at midday! We have the likes of April, Randolph’s Leap, Meadowlark and Deaf School on The Discovery Stage. On the Main Stage the running order is as followers first up is Nervous ‘Orse, Will Joseph Cook, Room 94, Natasha North, Hurricane #1, Funeral For A Friend, Carl Barat & The Jackals, Ella Eyre, Ash with Labrinth as the headliners.The crowds gathered early even though the big main acts were not on until much later, but there were lots of new talent to behold on both stages! The find of the day was finally catching up with Deaf School which was recommended to me by a friend and they are not exactly new! It did seem to me to be so weird having this band on The Discovery Stage when they have been around for so long, they even made me look young! They were definitely the wild card and were not like any other band at the festival all I can say catch them if you get the chance and you will see what I mean. They were the talk of the festival the next day so entertaining!Radio one’s very own Scott Mills and Chris Stark Kept the crowd very entertained with their DJ set’s in-between band change over’s!Fresh from headlining Leeds/Reading festival a week earlier with The Libertines there had been a lot of talk that Carl Barat & The Jackals might pull out of the festival due to his Libertine commitments but thank goodness he did not, he was one of many highlights.Up next was Ella Eyre who took full control of the stage using every inch and dominated from the onset, wearing an all in one Lycra catsuit. I have never seen such an energetic rhythmic aerobic display which the crowd absolutely loved. Her debut album Feline is flying up the charts at the moment, it’s looking very good for the relatively new artist!Ash is a northern Irish alternative rock band was formed in 1992 and is just about to tour America, Canada and Europe promoting their newest album Kablammo! They rocked Bingley and even done a cover of The Undertones Teenage Kicks that went down a storm!Now for the headline act Timothy McKenzie better known as Labrinth is a singer songwriter from London. He is a multi talented musician and producer! He was a favourite for many of the younger audience and a great way to end another special day!